


Let devotion cut me down

by RedWritingHood



Category: Batman (Comics), Batman - All Media Types
Genre: Bruce is the biggest crime boss in Gotham, Father-Son Relationship, Gen, Jason is his right hand man, none of this is mentioned but all of it is true
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-31
Updated: 2018-07-31
Packaged: 2019-06-19 04:38:30
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 377
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15502473
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RedWritingHood/pseuds/RedWritingHood
Summary: Bruce Wayne is Jason's father. He's also Gotham City's most powerful and most mysterious crime lord.Somehow, things are okay.





	Let devotion cut me down

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, I know that this is way, _way_ shorter than it has any right to be, but I'm currently severely motivation-deprived and it's all I could do. And I asked my sister if she thought I should post and she said yes, so here it is. 
> 
> So basically, Bruce still left Gotham and did all the training, sharpening his mind and his body, honing himself with the League of Assassins and doing that borderline self-torture thing that he does, the whole shebang.  
> But he doesn't become Batman. He realizes that he can't scare the entirety of Gotham's criminal masses into walking the straight line. He can't stop crime completely, so instead, he decides to control it. By becoming the most powerful crime boss to ever crime boss.
> 
> If you're interesting in more details, I'll have them in the end notes.
> 
> The title is from "Take Me Now" by Extreme Music.

Jason walks through the study door without bothering to knock, and closes it behind him. He throws himself into a chair seated nearby Bruce. Bruce sets his pen down on the table and turns to him, his gaze rising to meet Jason's. Not needing any prompting, Jason says, "It was Sionis. The guy finally decided to try his luck again, just like you said." He clicks his tongue. "When is he going to realize that his wax wings are useless against the sun? Moron."

  
Bruce says, "I trust you took care of it." It's not a question. It doesn't need to be. He knows the answer already.

  
Jason replies anyway. "We crushed him. Tore out his feathers. He's not flying again anytime soon." There's an undercurrent of satisfaction in his voice.

  
"Casualties?" Bruce asks quietly.

  
Jason sits forward. "Come on, boss," he says, not quite chiding. "You know I'm careful for you."

  
Bruce lets his expression relax slightly. He reaches out to touch Jason's face, his hand curving under his son's cheek. "Of course you are. My good boy." His eyes have softened in a way that only his children are allowed to see. "You are such a good son, Jason."

  
A smile blossoms on Jason's lips, still one of the sweetest things that Bruce has ever witnessed. "I was taught by the best." There is an adoration in his gaze that Bruce can feel beating inside his ribs, and a loyalty that is gratifying as much as it is humbling.

  
"That, I think," Bruce says, "is a title that belongs more to you than it does me." And before Jason can protest that claim, Bruce leans in to press his lips gently to his son's forehead.

  
Tension slides from Jason's shoulders, and he closes his eyes, lowers his head like it's a benediction, or a blessing. It's neither. It's a display of what is in Bruce's heart, unworthy though it may be, that he will give only to his children. Only to his life's meaning, to the skip of his pulse and the blood in his veins. The sons that he would die to protect and kill to keep.

  
He is beyond any sort of redemption, he knows. But he thinks they could have been his.

**Author's Note:**

> So Bruce isn't Batman, he's a crime boss. Because in this instance, Batman's not gonna work.  
> He still cultivates his Brucie persona, still acts under another name than his own, because like hell he's gonna let the bad guys think they can control him by burning down what he's built.  
> And then the thing with the Graysons happens.  
> Now, Bruce was never planning on taking in a child.  
> You can probably guess how well that went.  
> So Bruce, a crime boss with little to no experience with children, takes in a nine-year-old acrobat who has just watched his parents fall to their deaths.  
> Now, Bruce isn't perfect, but he's not Batman. No little kid's gonna fight crime. Although Bruce does teach him how to defend himself-- and by that, I mean he taught him how to be a vigilante without the vigilantism.  
> Dick does eventually find out what Bruce does, and he's rightfully upset about it, but Bruce explains why he's doing it. And it's not a great solution to Gotham's crime level, but it is an efficient one. So Dick learns to accept it. Because if this is the way to stop other families from falling apart, then he's not going to be the one to ask Bruce to stop doing it.  
> But the thing, here, is that Tony Zucco owed Bruce money, and that's why he cut down the Graysons. And let me tell you, when Bruce found out, that gave him _issues_. But because he is the way he is, he doesn't tell Dick.  
>  And then of course Dick finds out. Because these things come out, _Bruce_. And they fight about it. And Dick leaves. And Alfred stares judgmentally at Bruce while Bruce broods and suffers and Dick's over in Blüdhaven being fabulous.  
>  And then Bruce parks somewhere shady to meet with other crime bosses and Jason almost succeeds in stealing all of his tyres.  
> And of course Bruce takes one look at this scrappy little tyre thief and thinks, _I must become the father of this child._  
>  And so he does.  
> And two years later, the Joker almost kills Jason.  
> The keyword being _'almost'_. Jason survives with major injuries.  
>  Now, I don't know how you guys will take this, but-- Bruce kills the Joker. Because he hurt Bruce's son. His baby. He hurt him bad. And the Joker, just, he's crazy. He's _crazy_. He's not gonna stop. So Bruce stops him.  
>  And Jason, well. He's not blaming Bruce for that. Bruce did something that no one else had ever done for Jason. He hurt the one who hurt Jason. In his eyes, it's like real, physical proof that Bruce loves him.  
> And now we enter Timothy Drake.  
> Timmy is often left alone by his parents, when he's not brought along to galas and such. He feels a connection to Bruce because he knows that he is more than he seems, and because Tim is a kid, and Bruce is different with kids.  
> Different with Tim.  
> He feels a connection to Dick because he held Tim in his arms and Timmy was there when the Graysons died.  
> He feels a connection to Jason because Jason doesn't pretend to be something he's not, unlike everyone else--even Bruce, even Dick-- and Tim admires that.  
> And then he's kidnapped for ransom and Bruce ain't holdin' with that.  
> And of course he's trained Jason the same as he trained Dick, and Bruce knows how big he is, how intimidating that can be to a kid, especially a kid who's being held against his will. So he brings Jason. Disguised, of course, just like Bruce.  
> And Tim--who was already perceptive, but has made it a hobby to watch the things and people around him--recognizes them. Not straight off the bat, but close enough.  
> And this, of course, does nothing to deter his feelings about the Wayne family. Quite the opposite, actually.  
> And then Bruce finds out how much attention the Drake's really give to Tim, and both Alfred and Jason have to stop him before he does something drastic, like hunt down Tim's parents and force them to either hand Tim over to him or love their son like he deserves.  
> But since he can't actually do that, Brucie appears out of the ether to invite Tim to the Manor to spend time with his son, Jason, who doesn't have enough friends even though he has twenty of them.  
> So Tim is over here thinking, _They know I know_. And Bruce just wants this kid to be happy.  
>  And then Tim just blurts out, "I won't tell anyone!"  
> And Bruce is all like, "Tell anyone what?"  
> And Tim's like, all serious, "That you and Jason are superheroes."  
> And Bruce is like, "Haha, what?"  
> And the rest is history.  
> Jason grows up to be Bruce's unbendingly loyal right-hand man, which Bruce expressly objected to but ultimately couldn't prevent, and that's where we're at.
> 
>  
> 
> _Wait._ I think I just created an entirely different story. I don't know. I don't know anything right now. I just wanted one where Bruce is a crime boss and Jason is his son and completely devoted to him. I'm so sorry.


End file.
